Abuse commission could probe defence claims

National security correspondent

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has flagged a broad new front in the child abuse royal commission, saying that alleged rapes of defence force cadets stretching back to the 50s could fall under the scope of the inquiry.

Mr Smith said today in Brisbane that although Attorney-General Nicola Roxon was yet to announce the terms of reference to the planned royal commission into sexual abuse of children, it would make sense for abuse of minors in the military to be included.

''If a cadet has got an allegation to make, then that would potentially fall under the terms of the royal commission,'' he said. ''In a general sense that qualifies.''

The claims of abuse relate to a damning investigation by law firm DLA Piper into behaviour in the Australian Defence Force, including cases of rape, going back to the 1950s and with victims as young as 13. Some 847 people made claims of abuse.

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Mr Smith said in September he was considering a limited royal commission into the most serious of the abuse claims. While it would be impractical to probe all the claims through such a high-level inquiry, he was looking ''in a very focussed way at the potential for a royal commission or judicial inquiry into limited aspects''.

The DLA Piper report noted that boys as young as 13 were recruited into the Navy - and possibly into the other services - in the 1950s and 1960s. Boys as young as 15 were recruited into all three services at least until the early 1980s. The minimum age of recruitment is now 17 - both for men and women.

The review received ''allegations of sexual and other serious physical assault on young males and females''.Separately, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced 10 days ago she would order a royal commission into child sexual abuse in churches, sports clubs, Scouts and Guides, schools and state institutions.

This raised the question of whether any inquiry into the military would be folded into the broader abuse royal commission, and whether cases that couldn't be covered by the dedicated defence force inquiry might fall into the royal commission's purview.

Mr Smith is expected to announce his formal response to the DLA Piper report within the next few weeks, probably before the release of the royal commission's terms of reference, which are due by the end of the year.